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I'm actively on the hunt for PPE on behalf of hospitals and I can tell you the mark up comes from several places: - First, manufacturers have marked up prices.
by fny 7y ago
I'm actively on the hunt for PPE on behalf of hospitals and I can tell you the mark up comes from several places:
- First, manufacturers have marked up prices. What used to cost 5c from a Chinese manufacturer now costs 30c or more.
- Aside from supply being keen on the shortage, demanders are also willing to push prices even higher. I have even had people /outbid/ my place in line for product.
- Airfreight costs $14.50 a kilo. It's typically around $2-3 a kilo.
- Financing is hard. In many cases, no one wants to pay up front at all or make deposits because of all the scams and counterfeit products. Suppliers similarly want money up front, often 100%. The transaction itself becomes a more risky proposition. I can't find anyone willing to finance part of a 30 day transaction for 5% returns.
The Federal seizures have made everything even more risky. Price controls will not fix this. A manufacturer in China has enough demand from the rest of the world to charge. (I was out bid from someone from France.)
The only thing we can do is ramp up supply.
- Cynddl 7y ago> I was out bid from someone from France. This is quite interesting to read. Most of the media coverage in France has been very hostile against the US with little evidence to back it. We've seen claims of Americans waiting on the tarmac to buy our masks and redirect planes, cash in hand ready to be given. And in major newspapers [1, 2]. [1] https://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france/coronavirus-les-regions-redoutent-le-vol-de-masques-par-les-americains-20200402 https://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france/coronavirus-les-reg... [2] https://www.liberation.fr/france/2020/04/01/une-commande-francaise-de-masques-detournee-vers-les-etats-unis-sur-un-tarmac-chinois_1783805 https://www.liberation.fr/france/2020/04/01/une-commande-fra...
- nicbou 7y agoIt doesn't help that the US tried to make some shady deals with a German company for exclusive access to the vaccine, and allegedly rerouted PPE paid for and headed to Germany.
- taylorhou 7y agoi've been sourcing kn95's from family friends who are higher ups at the handful of CDC NIOSH NPPTL certified manufacturers. they are reporting that their raw material costs have skyrocketed from what use to cost them 20k per ton to 400k per ton (RMB). another problem is due to the limited number of actual manufacturers that got the CDC/CE certifications long ago, they have established brands (ie: Maskin) that now, has knockoffs/counterfeits of which is sowing mistrust even for the certified manufacturers. lastly, especially in America... we keep biting the hand that is feeding us in the sense that we are dependent on China's ability to mass produce KN95 masks but inevitably, when there are counterfeits as people cash in on the craze, "China" as a whole gets a bad rep. this week, China issued an entire ban on mask exports. if you had problems getting masks already, it's about to get almost impossible to get them as there are plenty of other countries that would gladly receive shipments. even so, i'm flabbergasted at the price the US government is reportedly reselling masks to states for between $5.50-7.50 per KN95/N95 mask... my current cost to the states is around $3.50/mask (after accounting for lost shipments) and i'm not getting any sort of big volume.
- fny 7y agoDo you have supplies for N95 masks or just KNs?